On the Impacts of Cloud Radiative Heating on General Circulation and Extreme Events

该项目将培养两名研究生。该研究项目中开发的基于动态的诊断工具和生成的数据都将通过在线存储库公开提供。该资助项目将扩大以前NSF资助的科学推广计划在印第安纳州大学，包括吉姆荷兰研究计划，该计划为代表不足的高中学生在整个印第安纳州。该研究团队将与WonderLab（一家当地的科学、健康和技术博物馆）以及当地学区合作，创建和传播气候变化模块，从而提高印第安纳州当地K12教室的科学教学标准。该研究项目的结果将在会议和同行评议的出版物中广泛传播。云和相关的降水是大小不等的风暴的产物，范围从几公里到几千公里。 在热带外，特别是在冬季，云和降水主要是由直径只有几千公里的气旋或风暴产生的。这些大规模的风暴是由中纬度西风急流组织的，这些西风急流沿着纬度圈蜿蜒曲折，并倾向于在两个主要大陆东海岸外的北太平洋和北大西洋上空放大。在云和降水形成过程中发生的潜热释放在这些风暴的生命周期的快速放大和延长中起着关键作用。除了释放潜热外，云还通过吸收来自表面和下面的大气的热能发射来改变大气辐射加热轮廓，这些热量较暖，同时以较冷的温度辐射热量，以及将更多的入射太阳能反射回太空，导致表面冷却。云引起的辐射加热异常不仅可能对这些风暴的发展产生长期影响，而且可能对携带它们的西风急流产生长期影响，因为气旋往往优先在中纬度的某些经度部分，如北太平洋和北大西洋，放大或重新发展。这项研究将诊断与云相关的辐射加热异常如何影响西风急流和Rossby波，其中产生云的气旋嵌入。 具体来说，研究小组将使用观测数据集和建模输出来计算中纬度地区云引起的3D辐射加热率异常。他们将研究这种异常对西风急流低频变化和大振幅长期大气环流异常（如阻塞流）的贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will train two graduate students. Both the dynamics-based diagnostic tools developed and data produced in the research project will be made publicly available via online repositories. The funded project will augment previously NSF-funded science outreach programs at Indiana University, including the Jim Holland Research Program which serves under-represented high school students throughout Indiana. The research team will partner with WonderLab, a local museum for Science, Health, and Technology, and local school districts to create and disseminate climate change modules, thereby enhancing Indiana Science Teaching Standards in local K12 classrooms. The results from the research project will be widely disseminated in conferences and peer reviewed publications.Clouds and the associated precipitations are products of storms of various sizes ranging from a few kilometers to few thousand kilometers. In extratropics, particularly in winter seasons, clouds and precipitations are produced mainly by cyclones or storms that are few thousand kilometers wide. These large-scale storms are organized by mid-latitude westerly jet stream meandering meridionally along the latitude circle and tend to amplify over the North Pacific and North Atlantic off the east coasts of the two major continents. Latent heating release occurring during the formation of clouds and precipitations is known to play a critical role in the rapid amplification and lengthening of the life cycle of these storms. Besides releasing latent heat, clouds also alter atmospheric radiative heating profile by absorbing thermal energy emission from the surface and atmosphere below that are warmer while radiating heat out at a colder temperature, as well as reflecting more incoming solar energy back to space that causes cooling at the surface. Cloud-induced radiative heating anomalies may have long-lasting effect not only on the development of these storms but also on the westerly jet stream that carries them, as cyclones tend to preferentially amplify or redevelop over certain longitude sections in mid-latitudes, such as the North Pacific and North Atlantic. This research will diagnose how radiative heating anomalies associated with clouds affects the westerly jet and Rossby waves in which cyclones that produce clouds are embedded. Specifically, the research team will calculate 3D cloud-induced radiative heating rate anomalies in mid-latitudes using observational datasets and modeling output. They will examine the contribution from such anomalies to the low-frequency variability of the westerly jet stream and large-amplitude long-lasting atmospheric circulation anomalies, such as blocking flow.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.